NIAID Funding Policy and Process

This SOP has internal roles only.

Purpose

To provide ground rules, timelines, and processes for funding applications during a fiscal year.

Procedure

Each fiscal year, NIAID determines its funding policies relative to its financial management plan at Paylines and Funding. The financial management plan, which evolves during the fiscal year, specifies:

• Paylines for various activity codes.
• Programmatic reductions to competing and noncompeting awards.
• Maximum increases for renewal grants and noncompeting nonmodular grants.
• Funds set aside for initiatives, selective pay, and R56-Bridge awards.

NIAID bases funding levels and number of grant awards on our budget allocation from Congress and costs of new and continuing awards. NIAID also has to balance grant numbers with numbers of new awards and its ability to pay continuing awards. See the Grant Duration Policy SOP. The Institute includes its advisory Council in budgetary planning.

For more information, read the How NIAID Makes Funding Decisions in the Strategy for NIH Funding and Strategy for Funding Decisions in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

To help ensure the timely funding of grants and contracts, representatives from the NIAID Funding Actions Meetings group resolve operational matters that may result in any delays. FAM members include staff from the Office of the Director, Budget and Financial Management Branch (BFMB), Division of Extramural Activities, and program divisions.

Each division is responsible for monitoring the level of funds it spends, so it has enough money to last until the end of a fiscal year.

For more detail than described below, see the following SOPs:

• Release of Funds for Solicited, Opportunity Pool, and Career Awards SOP
• Early Funding of September Council Applications SOP
• Financial Management Plan SOP
• End-of-Year Funding Timelines and Processes SOP

NIAID Staff

The bullets below summarize policies and staff roles for different grant and application types.

• Unsolicited grants—funded at levels stated in our Financial Management Plan. BFMB releases grants for funding and the Grants Management Program (GMP) awards them.
• Grants cannot be funded at less than Council-recommended levels unless:
  • Adjusted by the financial management plan.
  • The program officer provides GMP documentation of scientific overlap or gives reasons why a Specific Aim was negotiated out. Reducing a grant's budget by more than 25 percent requires negotiation of the Specific Aims with the principal investigator. GMP will adjust for budgetary and commitment overlap.
• Grants cannot be funded at more than Council-recommended levels unless:
  • An administrative supplement is approved.
  • A Specific Aim is reinstated, and Council approves it.
• Selective pay awards—funded at levels stated in the financial management plan in the order ranked by Council and released in the NIAID Planning and Reporting System (NPARS) after division, GMP, and BFMB approval. If any grant is skipped, the program officer must justify it, and the NIAID principal deputy director must approve it. See the Selective Pay SOP.
• R56-Bridge awards—funded in the order approved at the pre-Council meeting with the NIAID director and released in NPARS after division, GMP, and BFMB approval. Program officers should include exceptions and their reasons in the NPARS-Bridge email.

  Program officers must justify why a grant within the scores outlined in the Council guidelines is skipped. Program officers can't recommend funding an R56-Bridge award that exceeds any caps for renewal applications that are in the financial management plan for that fiscal year. See the NIAID R56-Bridge Award SOP.

• Spending more than allocated funds for selective pay and R56-Bridge awards -- approved by NIAID principal deputy director.
• All other funding actions— approved by the division director, GMP chief, BFMB director, and the NIAID principal deputy director. See the Release of Funds for Solicited, Opportunity Pool, and Career Awards SOP.
• Adding funds or years to a grant— use administrative supplement procedures, including BFMB approval. See the Administrative Supplements to Grants and Cooperative Agreements SOP.
• Initiatives
  • Use funding levels and funding plans appearing in NPARS.
  • If you need additional dollars, the division must indicate in the funding plan where they will obtain the funds [for example, a transfer from another request for applications (RFA)].
  • Before shifting resources between grants and contracts, contact BFMB. See the Repooling and Reprogramming SOP.
  • Program officers must justify why a grant is skipped, and the NIAID principal deputy director must approve it.
  • Funds designated for program announcements with set asides (PAS) must cover all applications responding to the PAS. In some instances, a regular program announcement must also have sufficient funds to fund all responding applications. For the latter, it is important to contact BFMB if you think that applies to a PA.
  • PA R01 applications that are within the percentile payline must receive as much support as they would have as an unsolicited application.
  • R01 applications responding to an RFA cannot request project periods over four years. See the Grant Duration Policy SOP.

Contacts

Contact for NIAID Staff

If you have knowledge to share or want more information on this topic, email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.

Links

Administrative Supplements to Grants and Cooperative Agreements SOP

Cofunding SOP

Council Guidance

Financial Management Plan SOP

Grants Negotiation SOP

Modular Grants SOP

NIAID Planning and Reporting System (NPARS)

NIAID Planning and Reporting System (NPARS) SOP

Program Announcements (PA) SOP

Renewal Funding SOP

Requests for Applications (RFA) SOP

Revision of a Grant SOP

Grants Timeline for Fiscal Year